The present invention is directed toward a stackable display container and, more particularly, to such a container formed from an integral flat piece of sheet material such as corrugated paperboard and which can be pre-glued and shipped knocked down flat, prior to assembly. Assembly, when desired, can then be accomplished without the use of glue or other adhesive. The invention can also be easily adapted for use on a variety of automatic and semi-automatic set up machines and case erectors while still maintaining the spirit of the invention.
Traditionally, products have been shipped in bulk from a manufacturer to a retailer in a variety of packaging display vehicles. The package display vehicles need to be attractive, stand up to the rigors of shipment, requiring minimal handling at the retail level and easy access to product. They also need to be cost effective.
The retail environment has changed drastically over the past few years. Retailers no longer want to cut cases for display or unpack goods on to shelves. Excess protective packaging such as increase board test, using double wall versus single wall, dividers, corner boards, slip sheets, layer pads or trays between layers of packages, add additional material, labor and freight costs to the manufacturer, retailer and the consumer. These cost variables can frequently be overlooked but can add to significant excess costs. The constant competitive pressure to drive costs down on the manufacturing and retail sides, while, at a minimum, maintaining profitability present challenges which the invention addresses.
Retailers demand packaging that facilitates high sales turnover within the allocated space in the shortest amount of time. They demand that the products be ready to shop once the pallet hits the retail floor and any perimeter protective packaging is removed. The next time they want to touch the packaging display vehicle is to recycle it.
These performance demands by retailers, reeked havoc on manufacturers who were tooled up with high speed, automatic packing equipment. Their production facilities were geared towards cases packing in standard shipping containers. Production floor space was utilized to its maximum. Along comes these new performance requirements, which necessitate modifying existing plant flow, acquiring new assembly space and labor or outsourcing the new packaging assembly requirements. Labor rates of many manufacturers are significantly higher than out-source assembly facilities. There is increased potential for incorrectly assembled packages in all locations due to the complex and diverse designs challenging these facilities.
To compound matters, many of the large retailers and warehouse clubs, are requiring special promotions, graphics, packages, sizes, counts etc. which make long production runs less feasible. Add to this, a constant pressure to reduce the costs to these retailers. Life cycles of a product package size, structure, quantity, graphics, merchandising, etc. become shorter, reducing the feasibility for long term packaging machinery expenditures. Companies now are forced to manufacture and market differently than ever before. They are further pressured by shareholders and banks to show incremental profit.
Many retailers are also merchandising bulk sales, which tend to weigh more than traditional products sold to local supermarkets. This presents certain problems that must be overcome avoiding a deleterious effect on the product that, in turn, might impair its marketability. Because of the weight and current designs of the superimposed stacked arrangement of packaging display vehicles, certain of the packages are subjected to substantial compressive forces. These may collapse or severely distort the lower packaging display vehicles sometimes nesting inside the container it was supposed to be superimposed and stacked on, resulting in sidewall deflection, tearing of adjoining interlocking legs and display panels, accidental exposure of product and in some cases, pallet loads collapsing. Other designs use display trays with smaller footprints and a smaller number of products per display in order to minimize twisting, torque and other disfigurement resulting from excessive stress when extra products are added. This results in an increased unit cost per package as the cost of the display and assembly is prorated over fewer pieces.
In normal warehousing or storage operations the stacked containers are palletized thereby enabling the entire stack to be readily moved about by lift trucks. Where, however, the lower containers of the stack are collapsed or severely distorted, the stability of the stack is seriously impaired thereby causing a serious hazard to personnel operating within the facility. Packaging used in high humidity environments places additional strength demands on the package.
Furthermore, in the packaging of certain products having substantial weight, difficulty is oftentimes encountered in properly stacking and palletizing the package display vehicle either because of bulging or distortion of the side or end walls thereof due to the weight of the product itself. Thus, the cost, time and effort required to package the product are significantly increased.
In order to attain the necessary strength and rigidity, of the packaging display vehicles used for such packaging, it has heretofore been necessary, in many instances, for them to be formed of heavy gauge costly material and/or to utilize special reinforcing inserts to be positioned within the packaging display vehicle. Numerous multiple 90 and 180 degree folds are required to lock reinforcement features in place adding additional labor costs, production displays and additional opportunities for repetitive stress injuries to occur. Oftentimes with products such as produce, frozen goods and meats, it has been necessary for certain portions of the container structures to be performed by the manufacturer and shipped and/or stored in such condition prior to being loaded with the product. In this latter situation storage of the empty preformed containers required an inordinate amount of space. Furthermore, because of certain design characteristics, numerous prior containers were not capable of accommodating a variety of products.
Many items can be easily damaged due to rough handling and inadequate protection, once the products appear on the retail floor. Most present efforts seem to focus on getting the product safely from their plant, to the retailers"" distribution center and ultimately to the retail floor. In some cases, minimal effort seems to be placed on designing a package that will withstand the rigors of how it is actually shopped on the retail floor. When the front display panels bulge and tear, the product falls on the retail floor. Retailers must pay employees to individually reposition each product item on display in a manner that is both appealing to the customer and safe for the product. Some product becomes damaged goods, which result in preventable retailer aggravation, whose costs are deducted from invoices. Sometimes extra handling penalties for returned goods are charged as well. Other displays are retaped, which may resolve the tearing and bulging issues but look terrible. This is especially evident on packages with high quality graphics, designed to promote brand quality and attract customers.
Conversely, other packaging display vehicles seem over packaged using heavier grades of corrugated single and double wall. This negatively impacts costs and can sometimes make it difficult to break down the empty packages for recycling. This adds to the retailers"" costs and aggravation.
Many existing packaging display vehicles also require a shipping cover. This adds additional material packaging costs and labor to affix, remove and recycle the cover. Furthermore, some of these covers incur the extra cost burden of high quality graphics just to get their product from point a to point b safely.
Other existing packaging display vehicles utilize various forms of trays between each layer which are necessary reinforcement for bottoms which tend to sag as well as tie in the unit so the load is more stable. These trays are large, require labor to assemble or be machine glued and tend to block graphics and access to product within the primary packaging display vehicles below the tray. They are cumbersome to remove and recycle at the retail level as well. These trays are typically printed with graphics related to the primary package, which result in expensive print plates and cutting die costs being incurred.
Lead times are continuing to shrink. Many of the corrugated display vehicles are cumbersome and complicated to assemble. They also can take up considerable warehouse space due to their large pre-assembled footprints.
Containers have been proposed in the past to address some of the above problems. Such proposals are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,413,276; 5,524,815; 5,826,728 and 5,839,650. None of these prior art containers, however, provides an adequate solution.
There is, therefore, a need in the art for a container with improved strength characteristics to withstand the collapsing or lateral deflection of vertical container walls which may result when forces are applied to such containers.
The is further a need for a container that is optimally adapted for pallet-type marketing, namely retail sale of products displayed in bulk in the containers in which they are shipped in bulk.
There is also a need for a container which resists inadvertent, horizontal displacement out of stacked relationship.
There is a further need for a container which is easy to manipulate and easy to assemble.
There is also a need for the container to have sufficient lateral rigidity to avoid collapse.
Advantageously, these objects and aspects should be achieved in a carton that is foldably erected from a one piece blank that is compactly arranged such that the carton blanks can be die cut from stock with minimal waste, can be pre-glued where necessary and still shipped substantially flat for later erection.
The present invention is designed to overcome the deficiencies of the prior art discussed above. It is an object of this invention to provide a foldable, joined or unjoined, inexpensive, yet sturdy, packaging display vehicle which is not beset with the aforenoted shortcomings associated with prior containers of this general type.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an optional pre-glued, foldable container which is formed from a single blank of inexpensive foldable sheet material having a simple configuration and capable of being produced by automatic high speed die cutting and gluing equipment.
It is still a further object to provide a foldable container which has an inordinately high top to bottom strength without requiring heavy gauge, expensive, high strength material and/or the utilization of corner inserts or the like.
It is still a further object of the invention to provide broad sidewall shoulders to support subsequent containers stacked above it, minimizing sag and the possibility of the container superimposed above it, nesting inside the container below it.
It is still a further object for tab and corresponding indexing slot locations to further improve container positioning, as additional containers are stacked on top of each other, the improved stability gained by these features improving product presentation and reducing product damage and extra handling at the retail level.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide a container, which provides graphic opportunities on the inside of the box, while printing the outside of the box in the same printing operation.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide options for one to four sided shopability.
It is still a further object of the invention to provide the opportunity to eliminate the use of trays between existing layers of product and still maintain the structural rigidity of the container.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an open-top and partially opened front panel (and optional back panel) which provides excellent product accessibility while simultaneously reducing in store handling and damaged goods.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide a container which, prior to use, may be stored or shipped in a completely unfolded or partially folded but collapsed condition.
In accordance with the illustrative embodiments, demonstrating features and advantages of the present invention, there is provided a foldable container formed from a single blank of sheet material which has reinforced corners and display panels. The container includes a bottom section delimited by pairs of upright end panels and side panels. Two of the side panels are foldably connected to peripheral segments of the bottom section, pre-glued and cooperate with the latter to form an open top product-accommodating compartment. The top edges of each of the side panels include shoulders for supporting a container stacked thereon and positioning tabs that extend upwardly and fit into corresponding openings in the bottom of the upper container. The lateral edge of each end panel and adjacent side panel has foldably connected thereto a corner-reinforcing member and create shopping accessibility from the front of the container. The reinforcing member includes a first section connected to the end panel edge and being secured in partially overlying relation with the interior surface of the adjacent side panel. The reinforcing member also includes a second section connected to the first section and secured thereto in at least a partial foldback overlying relation with the first section. A third section is connected to the second section and is secured in partially overlying relation to the interior surface of the end panel. This configuration can be mirrored on the back panel providing two-sided shopability.
Other objects, features, and advantages of the invention will be readily apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment thereof taken in conjunction with the drawings.